Impact of vitamin D on the course of COVID-19 during pregnancy: A case control study
Selcan Sinaci, Doga Fatma Ocal, Didem Fatma Yucel Yetiskin, Derya Uyan Hendem, Gul Nihal Buyuk, Sule Goncu Ayhan, Atakan Tanacan, A Seval Ozgu-Erdinc, Ozlem Moraloglu Tekin, Dilek Sahin
The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2021.105964
We aimed to evaluate the vitamin D status of pregnant women with COVID-19, and the association between vitamin D level and severity of COVID-19. Methods: In this case control study, 159 women with a single pregnancy and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and randomly selected 332 healthy pregnant women with similar gestational ages were included. COVID-19 patients were classified as mild, moderate, and severe. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as 25-hydroxycholecalciferol <20 ng/mL (50 nmol/L), and 25-OH D vitamin <10 ng/mL was defined as severe vitamin D deficiency, also 25-OH D vitamin level between 20− 29 ng/mL (525− 725 nmol/L) was defined as vitamin D insufficiency. Results: Vitamin D levels of the pregnant women in the COVID-19 group (12.46) were lower than the control group (18.76). 25-OH D vitamin levels of those in the mild COVID-19 category (13.69) were significantly higher than those in the moderate/severe category (9.06). In terms of taking vitamin D supplementation, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups. However, it was observed that all of those who had severe COVID-19 were the patients who did not take vitamin D supplementation.
Conclusion: The vitamin D levels are low in pregnant women with COVID-19. Also, there is a significant difference regarding to vitamin D level and COVID-19 severity in pregnant women. Maintenance of adequate vitamin D level can be useful as an approach for the prevention of an aggressive course of the inflammation induced by this novel coronavirus in pregnant women.
Author contributions SS: conceptualization, methodology, data collection, investigation, visualization and writing the article; DFO: reviewing and editing; FDYY, DUH, GBU, SGA: data collection; AT, SOE: formal analysis, visualization; OMT: supervision; DS: conceptualization, methodology, reviewing, and editing, project administration.
Ethics approval This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ankara City Hospital on December 23, 2020, with the number E1-20-1192.
Consent to participate Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no declarations of interest.
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